Wall Street stocks soared overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallying over 11%, its biggest one-day gain since 1933. The ascent was amid growing optimism that Congress will come to an agreement on a fiscal stimulus package. Later, investors cheered the reports that the lawmakers and the White House have finally agreed to a $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill. Also, reports that the outbreak was peaking in Europe offered some relief for market bulls.
In Asia, stocks followed suit and staged a decent rise and saw their best day in over 10 years on Wednesday. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has rallied nearly 10% since the start of Tuesday amid a deal on injecting nearly $2 trillion of aid into the US economy amid the coronavirus outbreak.
European markets opened higher on Wednesday despite the Eurogroup of Eurozone finance ministers failed to come to an agreement over the use of the ESM to curb the economic impact of the virus. The pan-European Stoxx 600 added around 3.5% in early trading.
As for the data, the UK consumer price inflation declined last month from a six-month high registered in January while the annual number arrived at +1.7% in February, in line with expectations. In Germany, the final IFO business climate index came in at 86.1 in March versus the preliminary estimate of 87.7.
Both the euro and the sterling extend gains against the dollar today, as the American currency remains on the defensive after the stimulus packages announced by the US authorities. EURUSD retains a bullish bias but still struggles to challenge the 1.09 barrier while GBPUSD has been testing the 1.1930 level for the first time since late last week. A break above this area will open the way towards 1.20 should the selling pressure surrounding the greenback persist.
Meanwhile, bitcoin prices continue to gradually climb higher, having encountered a local resistance around $6,800-$6,900 on the way to the $7,000 barrier. The upside bias prevails for nearly a week already and some traders start to call a bottom now. However, BTCUSD needs to get back above the $8,300 area, where the key moving averages lie, to confirm the breakout after an aggressive sell-off witnessed earlier this month.
